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Lathrope very doubtful for tomorrow. Not heard whether McPhee has recovered from his nose injury,but assuming he has,should we continue with him as holding midfield player-or should we go with Morris and put McPhee out wide.?My preference is to give McPhee another go-at least from the start,as it worked well on Tuesday and McPhee deserves another chance there.

I thought that McPhee played very well on Tuesday and I'm not a big McPhee fan. He deserves a start because of that good performance against Cheltenham. Plus I wouldn't move Morris, he is getting better and better on the left, so we should keep him on the wing. Straight swap for me, McPhee for Lathrope and I hope he plays well.

Been wondering about this myself. Despite my continued (though slowly dwindling) concerns with McPhee (although those concerns are based on him as a striker), I would start him as a direct replacement for DL. Give him express instructions that his job is just to run and run and run. Tackle anything that moves, don't give the man with the ball any time at all, just work really, really hard, do nothing else. This way, he can't balls it up by over compilation and this 'straight swap' method causes minimal disruption to the remainder of the playing staff on the day, so they all get to keep doing what they've been doing with such success over the last few games.

Matt.

Or how about Mansell plays the holding midfielder (much better suited to the role) and McPhee plays alongside Eunan?

I wouldn't want to see Mansell move into that role. So much of what has been good about our play has stemmed from Manse playing the box-to-box role. He has so much energy it would be a shame to restrict his influence to the defensive end of the pitch only.

DevonYellow wrote:I wouldn't want to see Mansell move into that role. So much of what has been good about our play has stemmed from Manse playing the box-to-box role. He has so much energy it would be a shame to restrict his influence to the defensive end of the pitch only.

Agreed - Manse has been immense in the role he has played this year so why change this? Was not at the game on Tuesday but by all accounts McPhee did a sound job so why not give him another go there.

Moving the man who has scored most goals for us in the league this season to holding midfield player might be viewed as taking the p*ss by the opposition & have the effect of motivating Bradford.

Moving the minimum number of players from their usual position, in which they are doing so well, surely makes sense rather than a lot of swapping about & also trying to introduce new lads to the team at the same time.

McPhee can't be faulted for effort & by all accounts he put in a decent shift at Cheltenham. I think he'd feel a bit demoralised if he was now not given a chance against Bradford.

Mcphee has played in holding role for last 2 home friendlies. He did well in both tbh. My only concern was he was drawn to the ball couple of times when he should have sat. The holding role is about balance of knowing when to close and when to fill gaps to reduce the threat to the team, not chasing everything. Having seen him play there couple of times im probably less worried than most.

By all accounts he had a good game on Tuesday, reading Martin ling's interview on the o/s , I would say Chris McPhee is certain to fill that role, and will give my support as afan, hopfully every one else will follow suit.

forevertufc wrote:By all accounts he had a good game on Tuesday, reading Martin ling's interview on the o/s , I would say Chris McPhee is certain to fill that role, and will give my support as afan, hopfully every one else will follow suit.

No doubt about it, he played well on Tuesday against the team top of the league.

ferrarilover wrote:Been wondering about this myself. Despite my continued (though slowly dwindling) concerns with McPhee (although those concerns are based on him as a striker), I would start him as a direct replacement for DL. Give him express instructions that his job is just to run and run and run. Tackle anything that moves, don't give the man with the ball any time at all, just work really, really hard, do nothing else. This way, he can't balls it up by over compilation and this 'straight swap' method causes minimal disruption to the remainder of the playing staff on the day, so they all get to keep doing what they've been doing with such success over the last few games.

Matt.

A very nice, well judged post from a man who should be MOM.... one day in the future.

yellow wrote: A very nice, well judged post from a man who should be MOM.... one day in the future.

What a gentleman you are, feel free to remember this when voting opens.

Matt.

I think Chris McPhee deserves far more backing. He scored a lot of goals from midfield in a very ordinary Conference side last year which is a good sign (although admittedly there's been little evidence of that so far for us), he has local connections so really wants to do well for us - other clubs in the league were interested but he chose Torquay.
But most of all a club with our budget cannot afford to have 2 pricey, quality players in every position, so to cut costs and keep the star men, you need to have a few McPhees in the squad, particularly ones who can play in various positions, to fill for injuries. No-one probably claims he's a Division 2 stand-out player in any one position, but his versatility for an affordable wage for someone who won't be playing every week in my view makes him a worthwhile signing. If you didn't have your McPhees, maybe we wouldn't have been able to afford to offer Olejnic a better deal, which isn't to say I think McPhee is rubbish. I'm willing to back Lingy's assessment of what he saw of McPhee last year, unless I see a string of bad performances to show otherwise, and don't forget McPhee was in the Ebbsfleet side that beat Buckle's Conference championship contenders at Wembley.

londongull63 wrote:I think Chris McPhee deserves far more backing. He scored a lot of goals from midfield in a very ordinary Conference side last year which is a good sign (although admittedly there's been little evidence of that so far for us), he has local connections so really wants to do well for us - other clubs in the league were interested but he chose Torquay.
But most of all a club with our budget cannot afford to have 2 pricey, quality players in every position, so to cut costs and keep the star men, you need to have a few McPhees in the squad, particularly ones who can play in various positions, to fill for injuries. No-one probably claims he's a Division 2 stand-out player in any one position, but his versatility for an affordable wage for someone who won't be playing every week in my view makes him a worthwhile signing. If you didn't have your McPhees, maybe we wouldn't have been able to afford to offer Olejnic a better deal, which isn't to say I think McPhee is rubbish. I'm willing to back Lingy's assessment of what he saw of McPhee last year, unless I see a string of bad performances to show otherwise, and don't forget McPhee was in the Ebbsfleet side that beat Buckle's Conference championship contenders at Wembley.

Couldn't agree more. As far as I'm aware he tries hard, wants to play for the club and had the courage to come back for a second bite of the cherry even after his first baptism of fire. Good luck tomorrow Chris. Anyway, that's enough clichés for tonight...

londongull63 wrote:I think Chris McPhee deserves far more backing. He scored a lot of goals from midfield in a very ordinary Conference side last year which is a good sign (although admittedly there's been little evidence of that so far for us), he has local connections so really wants to do well for us - other clubs in the league were interested but he chose Torquay.
But most of all a club with our budget cannot afford to have 2 pricey, quality players in every position, so to cut costs and keep the star men, you need to have a few McPhees in the squad, particularly ones who can play in various positions, to fill for injuries. No-one probably claims he's a Division 2 stand-out player in any one position, but his versatility for an affordable wage for someone who won't be playing every week in my view makes him a worthwhile signing. If you didn't have your McPhees, maybe we wouldn't have been able to afford to offer Olejnic a better deal, which isn't to say I think McPhee is rubbish. I'm willing to back Lingy's assessment of what he saw of McPhee last year, unless I see a string of bad performances to show otherwise, and don't forget McPhee was in the Ebbsfleet side that beat Buckle's Conference championship contenders at Wembley.

This.

He did bloody well the other night and was as committed as any other player so deserves better than what he's getting in terms of support from the fans.